Evening Wrap: ASX 200 higher, iron ore hits US$120 + Uranium prices hit decade high

The Index rallied amid gains from the heavyweight Materials and Financials sectors, Singapore iron ore prices climb to a fresh six-month high of US$120, Australia's unemployment was unchanged but the economy added an unexpected 64,900 jobs in August, uranium stocks surge as spot prices hit decade highs and Morgan Stanley's take on coal.

Let's dive in.

ASX 200 Session Chart

ASX 200 closes near session highs (Source: Market Index)

Markets

The ASX 200 finished higher and near best levels amid a relatively broad-based rally led by Resources, Financials and Tech. There's not a whole lot going on for markets at the moment. The Index is stabilising after the sharp ~2% selloff earlier this month, buoyed by the recent strength in iron ore prices and plateauing bond yields.

Economic data has been rather tricky for markets, notably:

• US inflation: Moved up from June low of 3.0% to 3.7% in August due to higher energy prices. Core inflation continues to trend lower driven by declining year-on-year increases in shelter. The road to the desired 2-3% is proving to be rather difficult

• Australian employment: Added 64,900 jobs in August vs. 23,000 consensus. The significant increase in the participation rate (67% from 66.7%) could put one last rate hike on the table for the RBA

Economy

Australia’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7% in August, in-line with analyst expectations.

• “The large increase in employment in August came after a small drop in July, around the school holiday period. Looking over the past two months, the average employment growth was around 32,000 people per month, which is similar to the average growth over the past year.” – Bjorn Jarvis, ABS Head of Labour Statistics

• Monthly hours worked fell 0.5% in August but still 3.7% higher than a year ago

• “The strength in hours worked over the past year, relative to employment growth, shows the demand for labour is continuing to be met by people working more hours, to some extent.” – Jarvis 

Latest news

Uranium: On the Move

The once choppy uranium sector is finally on the move as spot prices hit decades high of more than US$60 a pound. There's probably plenty of coverage about uranium and what's happening, so I'll try to add something unique.

What's incredible is that a lot of these names would have been buyable at the open.

• Bannerman Energy (ASX: BMN): Opens 4.2% higher, closes 10.2% higher

• Boss Energy (ASX: BOE): Opens 4.0% higher, closes 8.8% higher

• Deep Yellow (ASX: DYL): Opens 4.6% higher, closes 8.3% higher

What a powerful sector wide move with lots of intraday strength.

I guess the next question is: I don't want to buy something that's vertical but how do I get in?

At least from a technical perspective (and for educational purposes), every big move has a pullback of some sort. If the stock/sector has legs to run, the pullback should be a pretty constructive one (constructive being its relatively low volatility, tends to be a 3-5% pullback and finds support along a key moving average like the 20-day).

Boss Energy was one of the first movers in the ASX-listed space. And if you look at its chart, it's had plenty of big moves, followed by relatively shallow pullbacks, periods of consolidation around the 20-day and then a breakout. So in the event of a pullback, let's see how it behaves.

Boss Energy daily chart (Source: TradingView)

Interesting news and movers

Trading higher

• +12.8% Sezzle (SZL) – To resume trading on Nasdaq

• +4.5% Resolute Mining (RSG)

• +4.7% Baby Bunting (BBN) – Upgraded by Citi

• +2.0%  Leo Lithium (LLL) – Executes equity investment with Ganfeng

• +2.7% McMillan Shakespeare (MMS)

• +1.6% Myer (MYR) – Earnings

• Uranium sector move: 92Energy (+24.5%), Terra Uranium (+19.1%), Alligator Energy (+15.8%), Bannerman Energy (+10.2%), Boss Energy (+8.8%), Deep Yellow (+8.3%), Lotus Resources (+8.0%)

• Coal sector move: Coronado (+4.2%), Whitehaven Coal (+3.4%), New Hope (+2.5%), Yancoal (+2.5%), Stanmore (+1.3%)

• Iron ore sector move: Champion Iron (+4.3%), Fortescue (+4.1%), Mount Gibson Iron (+2.3%), Rio Tinto (+1.8%), BHP (+0.8%)

Trading lower

• -8.2% Lynch Group (LGL)

• -5.1% Select Harvest (SHV)

• -4.8% IPD Group (IPG)

• -4.2% Renascor Resources (RNU) – Update Siviour Mineral Resource

• -2.5% Titan Minerals (TTM) – Dynasty Gold Project update

Broker notes

Morgan Stanley on coal:

• “A perfect storm of events has taken met coal +20% since end- June. The healthy demand outlook is likely to persist …”

• “On top, China's steel mill margins are now close to zero, suggesting limited room to pay more for coal/iron ore unless steel prices rise too. However, with the end of the monsoon season in India (22% of seaborne demand), demand is likely to remain healthy, keeping prices well underpinned for now.”

Scans